“What's happening to my town!?”

Yeung threw away the piece of cloth in his hands after he got his confirmation.

Past the welcoming arch was a clearing, a viewpoint overlooking the entire town. He ran up the road and dropped his bag in front of a tall tree, before climbing it with a single jump.

The location where Yeung was in— although near the town, was still on the mountain.

On top of the tree, he took in the sight of the town's current condition and compared it to the one he had prior to leaving a few weeks before. Another gutteral sound came from Yeung's throat as the same sensation from earlier resurfaced.

The town was in shambles.

“Where did everyone go?”

The main road was filled with abandoned vehicles while a number of powerlines had fallen down. Looking carefully, he could even see signs of damage on some of the buildings and houses.

“First things first. Have to get to the house.” He whispered to himself, already having an idea of what it was that was happening.

He held his hand to his right shoulder, giving a silent thank you to his phone— not for taking an arrow for him, but for the digital books of knowledge he had read within it that are currently helping him cope with an idea.

Yeung gulped.

This might no longer be the town that he knew.

***

Yeung— a nickname he received as a kid for having a head resembling a cabbage.

Now 28 years of age, graduate of college, and on the cusp of becoming a wizard— he was stationed in a remote village a few hours drive from his hometown to watch over a contractual project. A few days ago was the time for him to take a trip back home but for some unknown reason, his bus never came.

He first tried contacting anyone he knew using his phone but failed as he couldn't get any reception. He then borrowed a dial-up phone from one of the villagers but unfortunately, their phone line seemed to have died.

Yeung felt something was wrong. He stayed at the village for two more days before being unable to take it anymore and decided to go back by walking.

He had walked for two straight days.

“Waaah— now I know why my ride never came.”

Yeung clicked his tongue at the procession of abandoned cars along a bridge overlooking a deep ravine behind a toll gate. A long delivery truck was turned over, blocking any vehicular access past the gate.

He hid behind a tree and started scouting the area, looking for any signs of inhabitants.

“Urgh...”

A few trails of black smoke scattered all around caused him to grimace as he saw a few rickety-looking huts, the same as the ones made by the goblins from earlier.

“I'm gonna need something to whack them.”

Yeung looked around for anything he could use as a weapon. His eyes wandered towards the turned truck. Latched on the underside was a crowbar.

“It's not really ideal, but it'll have to do.”

If he were ever to get in a tussle with the goblins, especially a large number of them— A short crowbar would certainly be durable but only effective against one or two assailants.

“Alright, let's do this.”

He quietly made his way through the bridge in between two lanes of cars while keeping his head down. Crouching by one of the vehicles, he caught a whiff of a familiar scent, causing him to reflexively snort out air from his nostrils.

He turned his head to the car on his right and held his arm up to cover his nose.

“...No holding back now. These sons of bitches sure won't.”

The inside of the car had been painted a murky dark red. Yeung softly growled and continued his slow advance while strengthening his hold on the crowbar.

“Gaak...”

Yeung felt his heart start beating louder the moment he heard a weak grunt coming from one of the cars to his left.

“He's asleep...”

Yeung carefully inched closer and laid his crowbar on the ground. Slowly, he wrapped his arms around an unconscious goblin's head.

The abrupt feeling of somebody's touch on its face caused the goblin to open its eyes wide in surprise, but didn't get the chance to even scream as Yeung had twisted its head— breaking its neck in one swift move.

Yeung let go of the goblin and stared at his palms.

“Why do I know how to do this?” He ruminated.

His hands weren't even trembling. This was the first time he had taken a life, and he didn't even seem to feel bothered by it.

“Was I secretly psychotic?”

No, the thought of indiscriminately killing never crossed his mind... Well...

“The only times I had ever wantonly killed was inside of video games, whenever I had wanted to let out stress or—“

Whenever he was up against newbies.

“Hmmm?”

Something was emerging from the goblin's corpse. A weak, luminous, cyan glow began oozing out from its body like thick vapor.

“What is this?” Yeung hovered his hand past the glow, waving his hand back and forth,

“Wah—!” He almost let out a shout but remembered that there were still goblins nearby.

It felt comfortable.

“Is this what I think it is?”
The cyan glow from the goblin's corpse had adhered to his hand and was slowly seeping into his body. Yeung tried waving his hand away slightly and the mysterious glow still followed his hand. The farther he distanced his hand, the thinner the glow became.

“Nothing seems to have changed.” He stated, trying to feel for any changes to his body after the glow had fully seeped into his skin.

“What should I call this?”

Surprised at himself for not feeling unnerved by the phenomenon, he felt like he had always known what it was.

From the feeling he had garnered absorbing the glowing mist, along with what his gut was telling him, he decided to convert them into two familiar words.

“Experience points? Huhuhu... ” He wryly chuckled.

Yeung continued to cautiously move forward while being alert for any more green-skinned friends that might be napping within one of the vehicles.

“GUAAAAAAK!!!”
His attention fully immersed in the path ahead of him, a high pitched scream coming from the second floor of a surrounding building broke the silence and brought all his effort to naught.